Crop pests and pathogens are moving into new habitats, towards the North and South Poles, as global warming progresses, new research suggests. Observation records from around the world show that many crop pests, including insect and bacterial pests, are moving towards the poles at an average rate of 2.7 km per year.
Despite the substantial impacts warming and drought can have on soil bacteria and fungi, these are not sustained if external conditions re-stabilise, a new study suggests. Small-scale experiements in five countries across Europe to show that even if warming and droughts continued for over a decade, there were no lasting effects on key properties of soils, such as growth rates, when the soils were allowed to re-stabilise in a laboratory over seven days.
The largest ice sheet in the world, the east Antarctic ice sheet, may succumb to climate change faster than thought, according to recent research. Warming ocean currents, triggered by shifting wind patterns, could accelerate melting of the ice sheet, leading to a rise in sea levels, say the researchers.
The benefits of CO2 cuts made now, such as avoided floods and droughts, will be felt within the lifetimes of most people alive today, new research indicates. The study’s authors say their work dispels myths that the main effects of CO2 emissions will not be felt for many decades. They estimate that it could take 10 years for the maximum warming effects of a one-off CO2 emission to occur.
A number of studies have shown that the public misunderstand global warming. Taking a fresh approach, this study investigated the willingness of the public to take part in activities that mitigate climate change. An international survey of 24 countries revealed that this is strongly related to personal experiences with global warming. The authors say linking actions to benefits could encourage climate change mitigation behaviour.
Glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change. This study focused on hanging glaciers in the French Alps, where warming is increasing the risk of glaciers collapsing. The authors applied a state-of-the-art numerical model to a particularly hazardous glacier in Mont Blanc to simulate how it will respond to climate change. The results suggest the glacier may become unstable in the current century, posing a risk to the inhabitants of the valley below.
Travelling by coach or train has a lower impact on the climate than travelling by air or car, but using a small diesel car to carry several passengers can have similarly low impacts per person, new research suggests. Air travel is the worst form of transport, in terms of global warming impact, the researchers found, but the average percentage occupancy of a mode of transport significantly affects the impact per passenger.
Wetland biodiversity may fall under climate change, a new study suggests. The researchers' experiments indicated that, overall, plant growth in wetlands will be boosted, but a small number of plant species well suited to the warmer conditions will out compete other species. However, climate change's effects on biodiversity may be less severe if plants are able to move to cooler locations, towards the poles.
By 2070, there may be insufficient water for irrigation to ensure yields and profitability for some crops currently grown in northern Germany - if the IPCC´s worst case climate change scenario becomes a reality - new research warns. To reduce future demand for water under a changing climate, the study suggests that farmers grow different crops and change their management practices.
The world could experience the highest ever global sea-level rise in the history of human civilisation if global temperature rises exceed 2 °C, predicts a new study. Under current carbon-emission rates, this temperature rise will occur around the middle of this century, with damaging effects on coastal businesses and ecosystems, while also triggering major human migration from low-lying areas. Global sea-level rise will not be uniform, and will differ for different points of the globe.
Ponds are considered to be ideal early warning systems that can be used to assess the effects of climate change at the local level. A recent study suggests warmer temperatures are likely to significantly increase the number of species found in ponds in temperate areas, especially at high altitudes. However, despite an overall increase, some species would also become extinct.
A new study has explored the effects of climate change on Arctic plants by simulating extreme winter warming events and measuring plant responses. The researchers found that considerable damage occurred to dwarf shrub species, in terms of shoot mortality, leaf and root growth.
Future decades could see shifts in phytoplankton populations, leading to less diversity among phytoplankton strains in increasingly warm tropical oceans, researchers predict. These microorganisms play an important role in regulating the Earth's climate.
Research suggests that climate change could alter the structure and function of temperate peat bogs and that these changes are primarily driven by rising temperatures, rather than periods of temporary drought. An average temperature rise above 1??C could permanently shift moss-covered peat bogs into bogs predominately covered with trees, affecting their ability to store carbon and the existing carbon stocks in them.
Results from a long-term study of fish communities in the Bay of Somme in the English Channel show that numbers of cold-water fish, such as dab and plaice, have been dropping since 1998, as sea temperatures have risen. The researchers say this is evidence of ‘tropicalisation’ in an English-Channel ecosystem. The findings may have implications for conservation policies in the Bay, which is a Marine Protected Area1 designated under the Natura 2000 programme, as well as other marine sites affected by warming.
Methylmercury may accumulate more quickly in fish as the climate grows warmer, new research suggests. Researchers in the US have found that levels of the toxin were higher in fish exposed to higher temperatures; global warming could therefore lead to increased human exposure to methylmercury through seafood consumption.
Air quality in the Greek city of Thessaloniki has worsened during the recent economic crisis, as residents burn more wood and other types of biomass to keep warm. A recent study has found a 30% increase in the concentration of fine particle (PM2.5) emissions associated with wood smoke from residential heating in 2012 and 2013, with implications for the health of local residents.
An 81-year-old painting enthusiast has won a competition with a painting that epitomises the disastrous effects climate change could have on London.
The projections paint an unsettling picture of New York's future: A city where by the 2050s, 800,000 people could be living in a flood zone.
The island country is currently experiencing a harrowing seasonal infestation of the Malagasy migratory locust.
In the next decade, the tropics will suffer unprecedented climate change effects, long before the Arctic and its polar bears see big shifts.
The record-breaking synchronized dance of 100 drones is unlike anything you've ever seen.
Natural fluctuations alone do not explain warming in the upper layers of the planet's oceans, confirms a new computer modeling study.
Rising carbon dioxide levels at the edge of space are apparently reducing the pull that Earth's atmosphere has on satellites and space junk, having effects on t
The risk of 'severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts' is quickly rising worldwide, the draft report warns.
An article based upon a leaked report says that Arctic sea ice is up 60%. But is it true?
Brown marmorated stink bugs are wreaking havoc — and just reeking — as they spread throughout the country.
Bombarded by bats and covered in bees, George McGavin investigates 'Ultimate Swarms' for Animal Planet.
President Barack Obama will announce a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a highly anticipated speech today.
The Montreal Protocol, which phased out ozone-killing gases, has helped. Meanwhile the oceans are warming faster than ever.
With frigid weather throughout the country, communities offer the homeless respite from the dangerous temperatures.
Video: As the Copenhagen summit continues, global warming deniers are popping up all over. Perhaps they're right, says Jon Stewart, it's all a conspiracy of tho
The North Face releases a limited edition hooded sweatshirt (mostly) designed and manufactured within the Bay Area.
Some farmers have found the wonderful (and profitable) insulating properties of milkweed.
Marketing guru Seth Godin talks about the marketing of global warming, the future of publishing, and what's going to happen when the entire world buys a car.
These brightly colored beetles come together in huge groups, but it's not just to cuddle.
Massive glacier break-off in Greenland demonstrates the frightening future painted by new NASA study on global temperature rise.
James Balog photographs disappearing glaciers showing global warming evidence in time-lapse photography in the award-winning documentary Chasing Ice.
Bigger surface melts in recent years are softening the interior of the ice like a stick of butter.
Melting Arctic sea ice has contributed considerably more to warming at the top of the world than previously predicted by climate models.
About half of the surface warming that's helping shrink Greenland's glaciers is due to temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean.
Instead of 'climate change' or 'global warming,' new research finds another term might be more effective in capturing people's attention.
I've loathed boxy four-wheel-drives since the 1980s. I never, ever saw the point. But now they've evolved into car-based crossovers with 30 mpg, and I'm warming
More than 250 earthquakes have struck the state's Southern border since New Year's Eve, and it's not the first time this has happened.